The Pennridge High School Theater program never fails to put on a spectacular show. The cast works for months to ensure the music, choreography, lighting, and performance is up to Broadway standards. My family and I appreciate a great musical and have found ourselves in the audience of past Pennridge plays like The Addams Family, Shrek the Musical, SPAMALOT, and more. This year, with COVID precautions there were fewer in-person tickets available. My family wasn’t able to purchase in-person tickets before they were sold out. However, the school was prepared for this situation and created the perfect solution. A virtual show. We were skeptical about how the show was going to translate from the theater setting to our home, but everything worked out in the end. If you didn’t get a chance to see the performance here are a few key events that took place during the virtual viewing of Beauty and the Beast.

The Cameras:

My family and I were ready on the couch with our popcorn in hand at 7:00 p.m. The cameras were high quality and picked up the details in the sets and costumes. We immediately noticed that the show was advertised as “live”, but some clips didn’t make sense. Once a scene has been completed and the curtains close for a set change, there is expected to be applause from the audience and a short wait time for the stage crew to get the set situated. This didn’t happen in the virtual version, which gave the impression of a pre-recorded show. I don’t think it would have been unreasonable to explain that the show was pre-recorded, but if the show was advertised as “live” it should have been live. Other than that confusion I was impressed at how clearly I could see the sets. Usually, when you are in the audience the small details are unnoticed, but the work was clearly seen through the cameras.

The Masks:

As a COVID precaution, every cast member wore a mask while performing. I thought this was done brilliantly. Every character had a mask that matched their costume and these days, it just seemed natural. I was worried that there would be microphone problems with the noise being muffled, but there was absolutely no issue. I will admit, it was a little bit difficult capturing the emotions and acting by the performers. During Belle’s solo on stage my mom, Kathy Padva made a comment saying, “I’m glad the cast is wearing masks on stage, but I would have really liked to see Belle’s face. With absolutely no one else on stage with her right now, I think it would have been a safe option to have her without a mask in this scene.” Another difficulty was recognizing classmates on stage. However, I thought that it was a responsible decision to include masks in the show.

The Fight Scene:

Scene after scene, the play continued to be well thought out and displayed. The dancing and singing were beautiful and engaged the audience, even from home. The climax of the production was the fight scene between The Beast and Gaston. It was well done, but for being the climax of the production, I think it had more potential. The fight scene was created on a spinning part of the castle and was in the corner of the stage. The concept was interesting, and the creation of the castle was well constructed, but I wanted to see more than just quick flashes of The Beast and Gaston wrestling. While watching the scene, my dad, Craig Padva, made a comment saying, “It would have been amazing if the entire stage was used up and there was more choreography in the fight scene.” 

I’m so glad I got to watch the play from my home (really fits the theme of this past year). The work from the entire cast radiated into the audience even when I wasn’t 20 feet away. Performing with masks could not have been easy to get used to and the practice paid off. Overall, virtual Beauty and the Beast was a success and I can’t wait to see what is produced next year.